James Pine Has A Blog

I enjoyed Halloween as a kid, walking all over the neighborhood filling pillowcases upon pillowcases with the good (candy and coins) and the bad (fruit or toothbrush, which prompted retaliation as I grew older). In college, the holiday lost its allure as going to gatherings of costumed drunk people whether it be in the student co-ops or San Francisco’s Castro district wasn’t nearly as fun.

After college I moved to a loft with no easy street access. One year my wife and I got dressed up and sat on the corner of 28th and Filbert St in West Oakland with a bag of candy and a pumpkin. That was fun as there were a number of kids who passed by us while making their rounds and I’m guessing it’s the first and only time they’ve seen something like that. being West Oakland, the night wouldn’t have been complete without a group of joyriding teenagers crashing a van into the telephone pole across the street from us.

This year having purchased a house we might have real trick-or-treaters. I say might because times have changed somewhat and not as many kids go house-to-house asking for candy anymore. Now there are organized sites parents flock to with their kids where there is usually a haunted house or maze, some games and a simulated trick-or-treat activity.

It seems ludicrous to me; after all, on what other night do you get to wander around miles upon miles with your friends, ringing doorbells of strange houses where people you’ve never met hand you free candy? It’s a formative experience that apparently fewer and fewer kids partake.

Our house did not come with a doorbell or a peephole so we took this opportunity to install them.

In order to communicate to the community that our house was “open for business”, we hung some orange lights around our windows. We also carved a couple of Jack-O-Lanterns (Pumpcasso and Rufus Pudge):

And made a ghost, house, cat and Jack-O-Lantern out of Lego.

Here’s some more detail on the Leg-O-Lantern, my first attempt at a custom 3D build:

Lego Jack-O-Lantern from James Pine on Vimeo.

We did end up with some trick-or-treaters:
6:50p neighbors
7:23p 2 little girls with full bags
7:50p adult man and woman, no costumes
7:57p mummy boy, jumped into our house
8:35p 6 middle school boys, no costumes
8:40p 2 little girls (mom wanted candy too)
8:51p 2 teenage girls, in costume
9:12p 1 tiny girl

I wasn’t in costume for the neighbors but quickly changed so we’d be ready for any others. I startled the 6 middle school boys when I quickly opened the door as my wife alerted me they had no costumes. You can see why below as it’s not everyday one comes face to face with a ninja.